1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a server system and a signal processing unit, a server, and a chassis thereof that enable to operate at least one server with a set of console.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional technique for directly accessing a server on a network by remote control has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-344189. FIG. 1 shows an example of a remote control system with the use of the above-mentioned conventional technique.
The system architecture shown in FIG. 1 includes multiple groups of servers 910. Each group is composed of a chassis on which multiple servers 911 are mounted. The servers 911 are connected to a server switching unit 901 via connectors for outputting display images such as VGA (Video Graphics Array) connector, keyboard connector, mouse connector such as PS/2® connector, or the like.
The server switching unit 901 is connected to a network 903 such as a LAN (Local Area Network), the Internet, or the like. By way of the network 903, the server switching unit 901 is configured to communicate with an information processing device 920 such as a personal computer (hereinafter simply referred to as PC), a workstation, or the like.
More specifically, the server switching unit 901, upon request of the information processing device 920, selectively connects the information processing device 920 to the requested server 911. In the above-mentioned case, the server switching unit 901 generates, for example, an IP (Internet Protocol) packet based on a displayed image outputted from the VGA connector of the server 911, and sends the IP packet to the information processing device 920. The information processing device 920 receives the IP packet from the network 903 based on an IP address, and displays the image displayed on the server 911 on a monitor 921. The information processing device 920 also converts instructional information inputted with a keyboard or mouse in response to the above-mentioned displayed image into an IP packet, and sends the IP packet to the server switching unit 901. The server switching unit 901 receives the IP packet including the instructional information from the network 903 based on the IP address, extracts the instructional information, and outputs the instructional information to the keyboard connector or the mouse connector of the server 911.
The server switching unit 901 makes the information processing unit 920 serve as an input/output device for the monitor, keyboard, mouse or the like connected to a selected server 911. This allows the operator to operate the above-mentioned input/output device as if the input/output device were directly connected to the server 911.
Conventionally, the servers 911 are respectively connected to the network 903, in addition to being respectively connected to the server switching unit 901. That is, the servers 911 are equipped with network adapters.
Besides, with the above-mentioned architecture, additional cables are required for respectively connecting the servers 911 to the server switching unit 901 and for respectively connecting the servers 911 to the network 903. Therefore, more cables are required as the number of the servers 911 grows. Particularly, in recent years, the mainstream architecture of large-scale systems is that multiple servers 911 are mounted on a single chassis (the group of servers 910 shown in FIG. 1). With the above-mentioned architecture, it is to be noted that a large number of connecting cables are aggregated in one place, which causes troublesome situations to lay and manage the cables.
Further, in the case where a server 911 is newly added, it is necessary to power off all the other servers 911 mounted on the chassis to which the server 911 is newly added. Thus, there is the problem in that a system cannot flexibly be altered.